Who created Bitcoin? Is it finally known? Maybe not.

“Money Electric: The Bitcoin Conundrum” a new HBO (WBD) Documentary that premiered Tuesday claims that former Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto, who created Bitcoin. Hours before the documentary was released, the 39-year-old Canadian software engineer, who was involved in the early years of Bitcoin's development, dismissed the claim. He said that he was not the creator of Bitcoin.

If you believe the documentary, Todd was only 23 years old when the Bitcoin white paper was published. This claim raises eyebrows because it seems unlikely that a person of such a young age could have single-handedly led a financial revolution of this magnitude.

The crypto community is mocking filmmaker Cullen Hoback for producing a documentary criticized for a lack of factual accuracy and his heavy reliance on tension over substance. Many in the community believe that Hoback prioritized sensationalism over thorough research, turning what could have been an insightful exploration into a speculative thriller.

Hoback is known for previously appearing on the documentary series “Q: Into the storm“, which exposed Q, the creator of the QAnon conspiracy theory – a far-right political movement that emerged on the message board 8chan in 2017.

What's in the documentation?

The documentary mainly deals with the well-established history of Bitcoinand thus covers well-known territory that has been publicly known for years. It goes back to the origins of Bitcoin, examining why it was created and how it became a mainstream financial asset.

It's only in the last 15 minutes that the director abruptly shifts his focus to Peter Todd, hastily suggesting that he might be Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. This sudden turnaround feels rushed and requires more depth to support such a bold claim, leaving viewers questioning the documentary's overall credibility.

The filmmaker backs up his claims by recounting Peter Todd's background, including his early interest in cryptography, his association with Adam Back (a prominent Bitcoin personality who contacted Satoshi Nakamoto), and linguistic similarities in spelling and grammar that point to one Indicate Satoshi's Canadian origins. A central argument concerns a 2010 forum post in which Todd responded to Satoshi; The filmmaker suspects that this was an accidental continuation of Todd's own account and not Satoshi's. Despite these claims, the documentary fails to conclusively prove that Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto.

Peter Todd laughs at the filmmaker

In the documentary's final conversation between Hoback and Todd, the latter laughs at the filmmaker and says, “I admit you're pretty creative. They come up with some crazy theories. It's ridiculous.” Todd then jokingly adds, “But I say, of course, I'm Satoshi. And I’m Craig Wright.”

Craig Wright is an Australian scientist who repeatedly claims to be the creator of Bitcoin. He was referred to the British Public Prosecution Service earlier this year alleged perjury.

“This will be very funny if you put this in the documentary and a few Bitcoiners watch it,” Todd says in the film. “I suspect that many of you will be very happy if you go down this route because it is another example of journalists missing the point of the issue in a very comical way.”

Hoback asks, “What’s it about?”

“It’s about making Bitcoin the global currency,” Todd says in the documentary.